Appointment Considerations

Introduction

When sending appointments into PKB it's important to consider if any appointments or cohorts of patients should be excluded.

For instance, certain patient appointments may not need to be in PKB or may need consideration before they are released into PKB. Below are some of these considerations.

We suggest the following patients are excluded when sending appointments:

• Deceased patients

• Patients who are acknowledged as being prisoners

• Patients with safeguarding flags

We suggest the following appointments are excluded for ALL patients:

• Multidisciplinary team (MDT) appointments or any appointment that does not need the patient to attend.

• Silent appointments - These are appointments that are scheduled for a patient AFTER a diagnostic test but BEFORE the patient has been told of their diagnosis. E.g a patient has a scan and it's determined they have cancer, at that point a follow up oncology appointment with the consultant/nurse is booked. It would not be appropriate for the patient to know about this follow-up appointment until they have spoken to their referring clinician. Organisations are advised to add ‘delay’ or make these appointments ‘silent’ so they are not released into the patient's record.

• 'Dummy' or 'holding' appointments - These are appointments that do not exist and the patient should not attend.

Considerations

Letters (related to appointments)

When an appointment is booked through a hospital PAS it will appear in PKB instantly. If that appointment has a corresponding letter i.e. outpatient letter with instruction/explanation for the appointment, it is important to realise that the letter may not appear in PKB for up to 48 hours after - depending on the workflow used.

It’s important to manage patient expectations and include within the digital appointment the information that a letter will follow and to allow xxx days for it to enter PKB. The patient should know to read the letter as it will include important information relating to their appointment.

Telephone or virtual appointment

It is important to include whether the appointment is a physical, virtual or telephone appointment.

Instructions on how to do this and more information on appointment configuration in general can be found here.

Appointments for children

Sending appointments to paediatric records is beneficial because it provides a full history of care. When the child comes of age and accesses the record it is complete and meanwhile any carers attached to the record can view and manage the child's care in PKB.